


Heritage

by danvssomethingorother



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Damien isn't bruce's bio son, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Trans Dick Grayson, Trans Male Character, referenced teen preg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27896743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danvssomethingorother/pseuds/danvssomethingorother
Summary: Damien goes through an identity crisis after finding out he isn't Bruce's biological son.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Comments: 20
Kudos: 123





	1. Chapter 1

Damien didn’t want to dwell on it and had tried several times to move on but the question of belonging always came back. He had spent ten entire years confident of who he was and the heritage that was his blood. He had always been proud to bear the title of Wayne and rightful heir to the Batman title.

It always happened at quiet moments like tonight lying awake in his bed, he hadn’t been allowed to patrol with Grayson. Father had forbidden it and had been forbidding him to patrol with Nightwing the last month, ever since he had caught them in discussing among themselves how much of Damien’s word of his birthright was true.

He had meant to train, in his year as Grayson’s Robin, he had become accustom to training in the early morning before Drake woke up. Grayson never forced the training on him but seemed to understand he needed to train without Drake around to avoid hostility, so he had his own private hours with just him and his mentor. His father wasn’t fond of this routine, he was aware of that, but it had become habit and now trained alone in the morning hours without his new mentor.

Grayson hadn’t been banned from the manor but seemed to be keeping his distance wanting the true Batman to finally get a better understanding of his new Robin. Damien didn’t agree with this arrangement of Grayson leaving to give his services to Todd instead but he would not voice those complaints. Damien didn’t know why but he felt strangely excited hearing Grayson’s voice echoing up the winding stairs. His pace had quickened but he stopped before he could reach the last step as he heard Father’s voice. They weren’t talking civilly to one another as they usually did, they were fighting.

“How long have you known, Richard?” 

“Do not use the batman voice on me.”

“Why would you keep the results of the paternity test from me? I had the right to know you were lying about Damien being my son.”

“Damien is---”

“Richard.”

“Bruce, please, Damien is a good kid, a bit messed up but he tries his best. I just wanted you to accept him without question and seeing how you are acting now; I feel like my fears are justified.”

“I was never going to turn Damien away, he’s my child now, he has my name and I care for him as I care for all my children.”

“Hm.”

“I don’t like things hidden from me and you know that better then most. I expect these things from Jason, but you have never hidden the truth from me.”

“I know how you felt before, I didn’t want you to find out something slipped through your fingers again.”

“Did you really think I was going to just never question him being Talia’s son?”

“I never had reason to question it, I knew you two had history and well, it made sense. I remember when I was young you considered marrying her before she chose her father.”

“Do you know that much about Talia?”

“No, its been over a decade since I had the fortune of seeing her…what does that matter? Are you saying she would claim any child of hers to be yours? Is that why you just wouldn’t take my word on him being yours and instead hacked into my personal files?”

“Talia is infertile, Richard. She can’t have children.”

;

Damian stared at his own reflection, taking in every detail, and finding not a single inch of him resembling Bruce Wayne. He outlined his hand with an index finger intently staring at each callus and each line. He didn’t look like anyone in the manor except Grayson. He and Grayson had rich brown skin making them stand out from the rest of the family’s pale skin. It was admittedly a reason he felt more comfortable with Grayson at large functions, he didn’t feel as if he stood out as much standing beside him, it was easy to identify them as family and no one questioned it when Grayson easily called him his brother.

He had always thought they both got their non-European features from their mothers but that wasn’t true for him anymore. Mary Grayson had been Romani and passed that heritage to Richard, Talia Al Ghoul wasn’t his mother and Bruce Wayne wasn’t his father, he no longer knew what his heritage was. All the confidence he had ever worn proudly had been stripped away with one sentence and he was now bare.

Grayson wasn’t here to notice his discomfort and Drake and father took his quietness as his normal brooding as they called it. Meals went on with no notice of his inner turmoil, he just grunted at each question as normal and as normal Drake would become annoyed. Father didn’t address it, didn’t mind that the new bastard child he took in was sneering and stabbing his food. He ate his meal easily and informed them all of his day. Bruce Wayne’s day wasn’t as interesting as Batman’s day or Grayson’s day, so Damien tuned it out.

“When is Grayson returning?” he would ask each night.

“You can’t keep demanding he come back,” Drake would grumble stabbing at his food at the question. He was becoming annoyed of the question; his answer became snider with each night he asked.

“He’s on League Duty the rest of the month,” Father replied on the first night and would tack down the days in his mental calendar each time the question was asked.

“Never fear Master Damien, he can’t contact us yet but the moment he is done, he should be home.”

Alfred always seemed to sense his growing anxiety and always attempted to assure him he would have his mentor back soon. It was never soon enough to ease Damien’s thoughts.

;

Damien knew how long he had and how precise he had to be to get the job done without being caught. He hated admitting he needed assistance from anyone, especially needing Drake for anything. It didn’t just hurt his pride, it made it swell into a form of anxiety. It physically hurt having to get assistance from Drake.

He stood outside his bedroom door, glaring at it, fist poised and ready to pound. He could just do what he normally did, march in and make demands of Drake. He hesitated. Courage had always come easily for him but like his pride it was waning.

“What, demon spawn?” Drake snared opening the door before Damien could get a handle of himself.

“Father and Alfred will busy tomorrow evening and I wish to ask your assistance in finding something.”

Drake gave him that look, trying to figure him out. Was Damien here to ask for assistance or was he here to demean him? It wasn’t a secret neither got along nor did they trust each other. Even on patrol it wasn’t uncommon for them to split as far from each other as possible, Drake with one of the batgirls and Damian always with Batman (he preferred Grayson at his side but father made a point to always pair himself with Robin).

“I am not planning anything,” Damien paused as Drake raised his eyebrow to him he couldn’t grasp the right word and Drake’s distrust was making it harder to find that word, “That would cause any harm to you or your belongings.”

“Uh huh,” Drake said leaning against the doorway eyes sweeping over him, still trying to figure out his motive, “Last time I fell for that, you sliced my computer in half.”

“You started that,” Damien hissed through clenched teeth trying not to let his anger get the best of him. Grayson had taught him a technique to control it, but it was lost to him now.

“I did not! I didn’t even tell on you, for the last time, Bruce was the one who found out on his own you threatened to maim a kid’s family!”

Calm down little D, he heard Grayson whispering in his mind, take a long breath in, hold it a minute, you are doing good, let it out through your nose nice and slow.

He found himself following the instructions as if his older brother was behind him gently holding his shoulders until he was relaxed enough to continue. It wasn’t training he was going back to; it was something more difficult, being civil with Drake.

“I wish for you to assist me and I shall reward you in whatever way you see fit.”

;

Father was hosting a banquet at the house; the ballroom had been scrubbed clean and everything had been arranged by the critical eye of Alfred Pennyworth. Damien knew he would never touch the bat computer with Batman near but even if the Bat was distracted as he was now, escaping Alfred’s eyes was even more difficult. This was the only night both would be too busy hosting to even glance Damien’s way. The security for the cave and the firewalls blocking the files he needed from the computer would have been an issue if Drake didn’t agree to assist him.

Damien didn’t like the arrangement, Drake was forcing him to spend a day with the Titans and act civil towards them, he tried to explain it as a way for them to bond. Damien knew it was Drake’s way of passive aggressively torturing him.

Damien was growing impatient in his seat between father and Drake during the dinner portion of the event. He ate quickly, teeth grinding his food into mush as he glared at each dazzling super model who came to gawk at father. Several asked where Grayson was and each time father responded his normal lie, Grayson was in Italy. He had decided he was going to Europe at the beginning of the month and Bruce could never hold down his son’s wanderlust.

Damien wished Grayson were in Italy, he wished he knew where he was truly, he had only gotten vague answers so far. He was assisting the league and doing whatever that was needed there, had been on radio silence since he had left.

Father was slow dancing with a drunk woman the same age as Grayson and Alfred was in a heated argument with the help he had hired for not bringing out the right appetizers when Drake finally grabbed him by the elbow. No eyes were on them, no one cared what the underage children under Wayne’s care were up to, they were whispering to themselves about Grayson possibly being in rehab and debating the politics about allowing vigilantes to have so much power in their own little circles around the room.

They only had so much time until Alfred noticed they were gone and they needed to use every second they had. Tim had pulled out his Red Robin glove he had hidden in his pocked and wasted no time slipping it on once they reached the hall away from prying eyes. His holographic computer popped up and with a few jabs and slides the manor’s security was down, Bruce wouldn’t be alerted to the cave being accessed without his presence.

Drake took a few glances behind them before he unlocked the secret pass way behind the clock and they hurried down the stairs.

“We should have twenty minutes before Oracle realizes I hacked the manor and she personally tells Bruce we are messing in here,” he explained panting with each words as they jogged down the stairs and sprinted towards the computer. Drake turned to his hologram again and with a few clicks the computer powered on. Damien opened his mouth to ask why he didn’t just turn it on normal but Drake shook his head.

“We have to work around not only Bruce but oracle. She knows everything that goes on here and I’m giving us time to dig without her knowing. Alfred will figure out eventually I gave the staff wrong orders on their emails and he’ll know we are down here. So I’m hoping we’re in and out in fifteen minutes. If we time it right, no one should be the wiser we were here at all.”

“Can you get the files?” Damien asked in a low voice, anxiety was tightening his throat and making his body shake. He tried to breath, just like Grayson taught him, but his mind wasn’t working right.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Drake said, was that concern? Was Drake looking at him with concern like Grayson did? Damien couldn’t believe it, Grayson was the only one who cared like that, Drake felt pity.

Drake paused in his work and put a hand on Damien’s shoulder.

“Maybe Dick wanted to hide this for a reason, maybe you should just ask him when he comes back.”

Damien sneered throwing Drake’s hand from his shoulder and stomping his foot hard on the ground.

“I want to know now. I do not like things hidden from me.”

Drake didn’t look satisfied, but he turned back to the computer anyway.

“Bruce didn’t want us to see, he encrypted the file in your medical records,” Drake began slowly pulling it up and Damien couldn’t bring himself to look at the screen for a moment, “But well, he has never been that good at encrypting, he’s worse at it then Dick. You said Bruce found it on his own? Dick must have been too emotional to even keep Bruce out of his files without mine or oracle’s help.”

Damien glanced up at his paternity results, his heart pounding. His father’s blood must not be in the system and was listed as unknown, his mother was not Talia Al Ghoul as he had always thought.

Talia is infertile, came back to his mind as it had repeated the last two weeks, but never in a million years would he have guessed who had birthed him. He knew the person well, he was the man he called brother, the person who had given birth to him was Richard Grayson.

He may have collapsed if Drake hadn’t grabbed him.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damien looks through Grayson's box of memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make the chapters longer originally but I can not make a long chapter. I am so sorry.

Grayson’s bedroom was stacked with closed boxes, he had moved them from the penthouse three months ago and had only seemed to open the boxes for a change of clothing. Alfred was displeased with the mess, he didn’t state his displeasure outright, but he didn’t need to with the quick glances and passive aggressive jabs towards the mess.

Damien popped open one the boxes, the box of photographs and memorabilia, it hadn’t been unpacked at the penthouse either and had likely been in this box for five years as he jumped from apartment to apartment after the destruction of his apartment complex in Bludhaven. Grayson often joked it was lucky he was already moving, and his prized personal belongings were in storage at the time but that made it more suspicious that the box stayed closed. It had been thrown from new location to new location Drake had mentioned and only being there for one move, Damien found it odd he would just leave his memories in boxes.

He noted large scrap books lined neatly at the bottom, he had never personally known Grayson to scrap book, but he felt he didn’t know much about his mentor. There was a pit growing in the pit of his stomach, did Grayson even trust him? His mentor had always loved to talk but looking back he never spoke of personal things. He only spoke of basic facts: his parents had died when he was young, his father had taken him in and he saw him as a father, he was the original Robin and had left Robin behind to give Todd (the dead Robin to fan pages) then Drake (Possibly Red Robin and possibly Red Hood to fan pages) the mantle, he was leader of the Titans for a brief period and had protected Bludhaven until its destruction. These were things everyone knew about the first Robin, there were fan pages dedicated to keeping track of the Batclan and though some facts were skewed, it still stood everyone knew these things (excluding the first two facts but looking up Richard Grayson would give you those facts).

Damien pulled a well loved but intact stuffed elephant out of the box, it wore a bright red ribbon with a sloppily engraved name on it ‘Elanor’. He set it aside and pulled a patchwork blanket out, it was held together by loose threads with stuffing popping out between each square and each square were red, yellow and green; Robin colors. There was a sloppy name embroidered on the bottom square: Thomas Jon Wayne – Grayson.

It hit him all at once that was his original name before Talia Al Ghoul had changed it to Damien. Had Grayson planned to keep him? Why hadn’t he?

He set the blanket aside and picked up one of the scrap books and opened it to a middle section at random. He was met with a much younger Grayson, fifteen? Sixteen? It was always hard to tell Grayson’s age, he always came off a few years younger than he was. He was in civilian clothing in each picture and surrounded by friends around the same age as him. Damien recognized the red heads immediately, the freckled one sharing ice cream with Grayson and clinging to him as they both fell to the ground laughing in roller blades had to be Wally West. He was close with Grayson even to this day; he had visited them often when he had been Batman; always seemed worried about his mentor and the weight forced on him.

The bulkier red head with a scowl on his face as a blurred Grayson leap frogged over his shoulders and smiled in a soft way as Grayson smiled bright next to him in front of a Ferris wheel had to Roy Harper. He didn’t know Harper as well, he never attempted to talk to him in the same way as West had. Harper was rocky around the edges much like Todd and Grayson always took Damien to see him in his apartment in Metropolis. Grayson worried for him, he had been in rehab after his daughter had been taken from him and put in the care of his adopted mother. Damien didn’t know the details, nor did he care to and Grayson never felt willing to share them. They just went and sat with the man, playing board games with him every other week.

Were one of them his biological father? Damien highly doubted the father was unknown to the system as the bat computer claimed, Grayson or father must have hidden that identity and Drake wouldn’t search farther for him. He had been a coward and now cared about the right to secrecy.

He briefly considered either red head being his father. West holding him tight and running with him at high speeds, kissing him on the head and laughing every time his son would punch him for the disorientating ride. Late nights watching infomercials with West and Grayson, his parents, laughing and eating piles of junk food. He imagined having Lian Harper as an older sister and what it would be like to have siblings his own age. Harper proudly cheering after he shot his first arrow. Being loved and adored by the Titans he barely knew, Grayson didn’t see them much these days. He wondered if he would miss going to the tower.

Damien ignored the light knock on the door and flipped the page, it was mainly pictures of Todd and Grayson together. Playing video games, asleep on the couch together, Todd blurred as if he was running at whoever was behind the camera. He noted Grayson was wearing baggy clothing in these pictures, he was so young. The realization fully hit him seeing a photo of Todd thinner than he had ever seen him, bright red in the face as he held a laughing Grayson in his arms. Due to his position, Damien could make out the baby bump. An ounce of fat the small and almost frail looking Grayson had not had in the pictures with the Titans. He looked younger in these photos then the previous ones. Grayson didn’t put these pictures in order, just seemed to paste wherever he wanted. He and Todd both looked thirteen. Grayson was two years older; he was fifteen and pregnant. Damien slammed the book shut as the door finally opened.

“Damien?”

Damien ignored his father picking up the baby blanket again, running his finger over Grayson’s sloppy embroidery. His real name, who he was supposed to be.

Father sat down heavily next to him on Grayson’s bed and a sad smile formed as he picked up one of the scrap books.

“I always feared these had been destroyed with his apartment building but I’m glad to see they survived.”

He picked up another out of the box and flipped to a page in the way someone flips open a favorite book, knowing every page by muscle memory alone. He ran a finger over a sleeping Grayson in Christmas pajamas, small and fragile in Bruce Wayne’s large arms. Damien had never seen his father smile like that before as he did in the photo, the look of a proud father.

“Our first Christmas,” he said absently as Damien stared intently at the photo, “It was the first time since my parents we celebrated.”

He didn’t need to say words to tell the story of how magical that day must have been. A crack of light cast over the depression he had been trapped in for so long. Damien thought back to his own first holiday with Grayson, it had been Easter. Grayson dragged Damien around the house in search of eggs he had been forced to paint the night before, Damien had hated it until he realized his mentor had put each egg into strange places and it had become a challenge to find each egg hidden. One had even been in the chandelier, Grayson stood under him with arms wide and Damien realized he had never trusted anyone to catch him like that before Grayson.

He forced himself from the book and stared sadly at the blanket in Damien’s arms.

“Damien, if you want to blame anyone, put the blame on me.”

Damien continued to say nothing frowning down at the blanket as his father put his hand down on his own.

“He was so young; he had an entire future ahead of him and I just didn’t want to ruin his life. I took enough from him, I took his childhood and I drove him from Gotham, I didn’t want his future taken as well.”

Damien sneered at the hand on his and yanked his hand out from under it.

“And what? Are you going to say you gave me to your ex-girlfriend who happened to want a baby? You were fine ripping away my future.”

“I had picked out a healthy family for you and I vowed to Dick you would be safe and you would live a happy life. I made mistakes, I miscalculated somewhere but it wasn’t because I hated you. I wanted what was best for my fifteen year old son.”

His father sounded offended. Damien didn’t know where the anger came from but he wanted to take it out on someone. He wanted to hurt someone and if he wasn’t allowed to put the blame on Grayson, he might as well put it on fa-no, he wasn’t his father, he didn’t technically have one did he?

“And a fine job you did at keeping your promises to Grayson, as usual, you let him down. Your best as you say, wasn’t good enough for anyone, was it?”

Father said nothing as Damien marched from the room, holding the blanket Grayson had made for him as he stormed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Lian dying was led to Roy relapsing into drugs but I can't kill her in my universe. She was just taken away because of his dangerous life style in this universe and given to Dinah. Cause its my universe. 
> 
> thanks for reading and the kudos! Leave a comment if you enjoy, they help motivate me <3


	3. Six Months Prior

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A step back to the day Dick feared Damien wasn't Bruce's son.

As asked of him, Dick arrived alone in Metropolis, outside of the Lex Corp genetics lab. He didn’t have long; Alfred was suspicious, and Tim wouldn’t patiently await his return when Damien found out his mentor was missing and went to him demanding answers. He didn’t like sneaking out on his family like this, but he had specifically been asked by Jason to come alone.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jason around their younger brothers, but he couldn’t say they weren’t on shaky grounds. On some level he knew and sympathized with Jason for feeling replaced by Tim and understood his actions weren’t his, they were from the aftereffects of the pit. Jason refused to get help and Jason refused to acknowledge Tim or even Damien as part of the Batclan, so it was best to be cautious on these things. He never had reason to fear his own brother but he didn’t want to risk Jason relapsing into madness and hurting the younger members of the family either.

He had taken two taxis and only paid with cash hoping to not leave a trail for Tim to follow later. He knew there was no use trying to hide from Barbara, he had called her ahead of time and informed her where he was headed. She didn’t approve but was satisfied with his honesty. After the blockbuster incident and all the damage that came from it, he had vowed to never leave her in the dark about anything. If the worst came, she would always have his back and he trusted her as his best friend.

The night was alive in Metropolis and he felt he had some misfortune tonight seeing as how not a single person in the crowd he passed through recognized him as Dick Grayson acting CEO of Wayne Corp while Bruce Wayne did soul searching somewhere in Europe.

Jason was easy to spot, he hadn’t attempted to blend in as Dick had. He was leaning against the Lex Corp sign, lighting a cigarette up with a flashy gun shaped lighter. It looked realistic enough a few people passing by the building to the clubs down the street gave him odd looks. He was wearing his red hood costume minus the iconic hood. He whistled as he noticed his brother and waved him over with his hand. Walking closer Dick noticed Roy squatted behind the large marble L, seemingly trying not to be associated with Jason as he began yelled for Dick to just jay walk as he stood on the other side of the street and patiently waited for the cross walk to turn. Dick felt like keeping him waiting a moment and smiled cockily as he crossed the empty street when legally permitted. Jason gave him the bird and Dick playfully returned the sign to him as greeting.

“Hurry the fuck up, Dickface!”

Dick gave him his brightest smile as he casually strolled around him and squatted next to Roy behind the sign who gave him a halfhearted smile. He grabbed his old friend’s hand and held it a minute.

“He’s been like this all-damn night, impatient as fuck,” Roy grumbled squeezing his friend’s hand tight before letting go. Roy unlike Jason was hardly ready to go beat criminals after whatever this meet up was, he like Dick just wore average street cloths. Jeans, hoodie and sneakers. Just your average citizens heading home from work.

“You are here to see me, not Roy,” Jason hissed plopping on the ground next to his friend and brother, glaring daggers at them.

“I would rather sit down by the person who doesn’t look like he’s going to break my leg for jay walking, thanks.”

“More like for not jay walking, Dickface, there were no cars coming!”

Roy sighed heavily and let his head hit Dick’s shoulder hiding the fact he was about to crack up. Jason’s punches hurt even when he did it playfully, so it’s best to attempt some caution.

“The law is the law, Jay, we must enforce the law.”

Roy grumbled in annoyance as Dick rolled away from his brother’s annoyed smack and Roy hit the sidewalk.

“Alright, enough messing around, how long do we have till demon spawn gets here?”

Dick gave him a strange look but responded anyway.

“I didn’t notify him where I was going or that I was leaving. It will take maybe thirty minutes before he becomes suspicious despite the task I gave him and maybe an hour before Tim is helping him track me down because he’s tired of him.”

Dick glances at his watch and frowns.

“I’d say we have an hour and thirty minutes now since someone wanted to meet all the way in Metropolis.”

“Damn, you must not have trained those brats well if that’s all the time we have,” Jason snorted, “Me and you were really the golden level robins, we would have just followed Bruce from the get go.”

“Damien trusts me,” Dick said with a soft smile, “He’s also a bit thick headed at times, I promised him defeating Tim’s high score would help strategy and as a bonus, he could one up Tim.”

Roy began to snicker; he found the younger Robins feud entertaining. Dick felt guilt in using it to sneak out, but he didn’t want to put either of his brothers in unneeded danger if Jason was asking him to do something dangerous.

“They really don’t make Robins like they used to,” Jason shook his head taking a slow puff from his cigarette, “A dumber model each time.”

“You realize you are saying you are dumber than me, right?”

Roy barked out a laugh and was sadly in range of Jason’s fist. He hit the ground hard but didn’t stop laughing.

Dick rolled his eyes and folded his hands across his chest, giving his best impression of Alfred waiting for an explanation.

“May I remind you, you invited me here.”

Roy straightened up and glanced towards Jason who got up with a sigh.

“Talia is looking for you.”

Roy nodded in confirmation, reaching into Jason’s jacket pocket and stealing his cigarettes and lighter. He took a long inhale and a slow exhale of his habit before turning back to his friend.

“She asked Jason to arrange a meeting between the two of you and well you can guess how well that went. She’s been lurking around in the shadows ever since, we caught site of her while we were down on the boarder taking care of the drug cartel I was telling you about last month.”

“Why wouldn’t she just come to me? She knows where I live and has never had a problem tracking anyone down.”

Roy and Jason glanced at each other, Jason flicking the butt from his hand at Luthor’s building.

“She doesn’t want the demon spawn to know.”

Dick frowned as Jason pulled a thick envelope from his jacket and passed it to his brother. Roy stepped closer to his friend and squeezed his shoulder in support as he opened the envelope. Dick stared at him suspiciously a moment before pulling out one of the papers.

He began shaking as he skimmed over the paper.

“These are Thomas’s adoption papers…” he whispered wide eyes meeting Jason’s guilty eyes, Roy wrapped his arms tight around his friend and held him tight.

“We have our suspicions that the spawn might be Thomas,” Roy mumbled, “But we don’t know if its just Talia trying to mess with your head, trying to hurt you for turning Damien against her.”

Roy held Dick tight as his knees became weak, helping him to sit on the ground. The son he had been too young to keep. He shut his eyes and took an even breathe. He remembered being mad at Bruce for letting this happen to his biological son, he was supposed to know everything, it felt so impossible he wouldn’t know his son existed and had been forced to become a weapon. Now Dick felt that guilt settling on his shoulders, he had promised his son he was going to be safe without him when he handed him over to the woman he thought was going to be his son’s mother. Why didn’t he keep track of him?

“We’ll figure this out,” Jason finally mumbled pulling his brother away from Roy and into a tight hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for the kudos! please comment if you enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What Dick has been up to.

What may have been the ultimate shock to Damien, Dick Grayson was not currently with the league nor was he on strict radio silence. He hadn’t even left Gotham. He was currently at Jason Todd’s apartment and both were a shot of vodka away from being drunk. Dick lay on the kitchen floor, staring at Jason’s fingers hanging over the side of the table. Scratch that, they were past drunk. Playfully he swatted at his brother’s fingers and smiled proudly at the growl as his hand missed Dick’s completely when he attempted to hit him back.

The front door opened but neither former Robin moved. Jason raised up but didn’t turn towards Roy as he walked in, he took another chug of the vodka. Dick didn’t rise as Roy nudged him with his foot but he did jump up as Jason threw the empty bottle and it smashed against the wall.

“How the fuck is this progress from either of you?”

Dick smiled at Roy but the smile was not returned as the red head sat heavily across from Jason at the table. Dick fell back down with a little giggle and once more swatted at his brother’s fingers once more hanging off the table. This time Jason didn’t react so he held the fingers and playfully swung their hands under the table, bumping against the wood several times and still Jason didn’t react.

“Your time is running out, Dick, you have to go home soon, and Bruce is going to be pissed at you for still not finding a lead on the hows and whys Talia just took the kid you had.”

Dick frowned, attempted to move his hand and found Jason was holding it tight. He focused on Jason’s hand a moment, it was large like Bruce’s, everything about Jason and Bruce was large. He hated that. Even Tim was the same height as him now and catching up in width, he was the oldest and was cursed to be the smallest.

“We know why,” Jason finally grunted the first thing he had said since they decided being drunk was better then being sober, “She wants baby and she couldn’t have baby.”

“That doesn’t explain anything,” Roy sighed drumming his hand on the wood.

“When I was little, Talia used to call me her child,” Dick slurred from under the table, “She just accepted me and later Jason as Bruce’s heirs. Maybe she just didn’t like the idea Bruce tossed my kid out…”

“Well, if we were her kids, bitch was just as bad of a parent as Bruce,” Jason mumbled, “She was never good with anyone…Bruce was never good for anyone…belong together…the asses…”

“If I didn’t know any better,” Roy began, “I would say neither of you wanted to know anything else after the paternity test came back positive.”

Dick shrugged from his place on the ground, that had been the idea. He didn’t want to deal with the guilt, he wanted to take care of Damien. He wanted to clean up the mess and not bother with the how or why this happened. Then Bruce came back and Bruce found the paternity test and Bruce had tasked him to solve the case. Find the adopted family, find any lead on the paperwork, find Talia. Dick was stalling and he only had two weeks to find those leads and he couldn’t bring himself into that mindset.

“What then? We tell Demon Spawn he ain’t shit and his birth parents were a teenager and the creep who stalked his teenage parent? Yeah, that won’t give the kid a complex…”

“There’s a chance he wasn’t the father,” Dick whispered trying to pull his hand away, but Jason just clung to it tighter, “I slept with Roy that year too, Roy is the father, he has to be. I refuse to think Damien is connected to him…”

“You been saying that lie for too long,” Jason grunted, “I get it you wanted to love the thing inside you, and you did. You made the damn fetus a blanket and gave it a name when everyone else told you not to. You want to love demon spawn and you do. You wouldn’t listen to a damn person about getting rid of the brainwashed assassin who had no proof he was Bruce’s and well he ain’t. Love comes from dark places sometimes.”

“Shut up, Todd,” Roy spat pounding his hand against the table, “There’s like a fifty percent chance Damien is mine.”

“Well Dick read the results, he had both your DNA in the computer, what the hell did it say before you deleted all traces of who the daddy was?”

Dick didn’t say anything. He didn’t know the results, he had Barbera check for him, and he made her vow to delete the father. He didn’t want to know; he didn’t want to think of trauma creating Damien. He loved him, he had always loved him and he just wanted to continue just seeing his child. He didn’t want to think of who the father was, it was Roy. After it happened, Dick had snapped and Roy had snapped before that and a bottle of booze in the backseat of a car while they both hid from their mentors and their demands led to Damien. That’s what happened. He refused to think that cold room, those tight cuffs and the drugs pumped in his blood to keep him docile had made Damien and that little smile he wore when he hugged lost kittens in allies. Trauma had changed his son thanks to Talia, trauma couldn’t have made the boy and his soft heart that led him to protecting the baby birds in the garden from hawks.

There was nothing evil about Damien Wayne and Dick refused to even consider the possibility such an evil man had sired him.

“The silence says Barbera knows, go call her Roy, go see if you are a daddy again and then you and Dickie can get married and raise the demon spawn together.”

Jason was being sarcastic, but Dick couldn’t say that didn’t sound appealing. He wasn’t sure if he was in love with Roy, he hadn’t felt that since he was fifteen and hurting but having the stability that came with marriage and raising Damien sounded magical to him. Maybe it was the booze talking, he might not agree to that once the insecurities and fears struck him hard later. 

All three shot up as the door opened once more, they hadn’t been expecting anyone but Roy. Jason finally let go of Dick’s hand and forced himself to his feet, drawing his hunting knife off his belt. Dick was amazed the shaking, drunken hands were able to toss the knife so straight striking just above the kitchen light switch as their adopted father popped through the kitchen entrance and frowned at all three of them.

“Have you been drinking?”

Dick glanced away guiltily at that but Jason seemed proud of himself flopping back down at the table.

“Not me,” Roy snorted, “I did what you asked, I went down to Central City and found the family. Good news, B, it really does appear the family you picked out had nothing to do with this. Just a normal happy family with a cute ten-year-old. How the baby they had adopted ended up with Talia, I don’t know. Last we saw of Talia was months ago, Jason is the only one who knows how to contact her at all and as you see, he’s not doing shit.”

Jason flipped Roy the bird and even on the ground, Dick felt that shiver go down his spine from the batglare. Jason taking the blunt of it, turned his head away. 

“All three of you have known about this for months and this is all you have?”

Dick curled in on himself, he didn’t really know what Bruce wanted, not everyone wanted the answers. He wasn’t even sure what the answers would lead to, only Damien getting hurt. He didn’t even know why Talia wanted him to know now, it felt too convenient.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to focus on this,” Dick mumbled finally gathering the courage to sit up and stare up at his father, “We keep poking around and Damien is going to know. That is the last thing that boy needs to know.”

Bruce sighed giving him a sympathetic look and squatting on the floor next to his son.

“I’m afraid we’re already too late on that, he already knows. He’s demanding answers.”

Dick felt the guilt rising and forced himself off the ground.

“I should return home then.”

Bruce shook his head and Dick stared at him with a frown.

“I’m not sure if that’s the best action…”

Dick didn’t expect it from Roy, he had never been the type to angrily yell at Bruce, that was usually Jason’s job.

“The fuck it isn’t! Damien is my kid too and I need to take some damn responsibility! We’ll be at the manor tomorrow whether you want us there or not!”

Dick stared nervously at Bruce who pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Fine, you deal with Damien, he won’t talk to me anyway. I’ll take this over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! Comments keep me going!

**Author's Note:**

> I think I had this idea a few years ago but am just now writing. I haven't kept up with the comics since 2012, so nothing is canon. this is just my au.


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